Kiss & Tell
by Romantic Nerd
Summary: After William and Julia have been happily married for a while, Ruby comes to visit. Julia tells all to Ruby and Emily over a long lunch. William comes home with a plan to deal with the discomfort of knowing that his wife will have disclosed much about their relationship.


Kiss & Tell

The Christmas holiday was quickly approaching and Ruby was coming to visit. William and Julia had been living happily at the Windsor House Hotel where Ruby would rent a room for her stay. Julia had taken Thursday and Friday off from the asylum to spend time with Ruby.

Thursday morning (6 A.M.)

Julia awoke first this morning. It was usually William. She rolled over to face him as he lay on his back sleeping. She would take this chance to admire him. Even closed, his eyes were beautiful, combined with his square masculine jaw and his muscularly-defined physique it was no wonder that so many women found him attractive. They had been married over a year now and she still marveled at how her body reacted to the mere presence of him. She had expected that their attraction would weaken with familiarity, but it seemed to have actually grown stronger instead. Perhaps it was because now they knew the power of the feelings they made together. Anticipation often drove her to levels of arousal she had never even dreamed were possible.

And so it happened now. She had let her mind move ahead to what would happen once she softly awakened him, sliding her naked body up to his, reaching around his neck to entangle her fingers in the hair on the back of his head, lightly kissing his ear and whispering his name. He would roll over to face her before he even opened his eyes. They would kiss and move against each other, explore each other's bodies, slowly build up the tension between them. She would lose the ability to think clearly as her awareness of her warm, tight, need for him took over her world. She would push herself under him as best as possible, but only when he was ready would he tuck her completely underneath him, pressing down into her with his full weight and his need. They fit together so well this way – his broad shoulders and chest covering her as his strong arms held her in place while her thighs surrounded his compact, powerful hips. Their eyes lined up perfectly once he had moved down a bit to come inside of her. William's amazing self-control (which she had needlessly worried would be his lovemaking downfall – rendering him unable to let go), his attention to detail, and his desire to pleasure her resulted in nearly perfect sexual unions between them. He was a master of timing, holding himself back just enough to ensure that she was about to climax before he drove himself forward into his own pleasure. She chuckled to herself in her mind when she felt her back surge into an arch as the muscles under her pubic bone engulfed and squeezed her in contractions of desire for him.

She could wait no longer – she felt her breasts against his skin first, she actually held back a moan at this simplest and softest of touches. It was time to make her dreams come true…

Julia remained in her robe as she basked in the sights of watching William go through his rituals of getting ready for work – brushing his teeth, shaving, and his orderly crafting of the clean, neat, buttoned-down detective the world sees. They had finished eating their room service breakfast by the time Ruby knocked on their door. William let Ruby in just as he was putting on his coat and red scarf to head out. He welcomed her with a hug and apologized that he had to rush off to the stationhouse, but was looking forward to catching up with her later.

After the door had closed, Ruby turned to see Julia, "Jules, you're not even dressed yet," she said as she and Julia embraced each other.

"I saw no need to rush into it as I took the day off and I figured you would sleep late, having gotten into Toronto so late last night," Julia said as she ushered Ruby into their suite.

Ruby's eyes soaked in the unique home shared by her sister and her new husband. She twirled around and moved from the parlor to the bedroom. Her gaze became fixed on the unmade bed. With a mischievous look in her eye, she reached over to squeeze her sister, "William seemed quite happy, and strangely confident, relaxed even. I guess things are good (Ruby's eyes turned to focus on the bed once more) between you two?"

"Ruby, perhaps I will kiss and tell, but really, can't we just spend a little time together first?" Julia said with an exasperated sigh. "I've invited Emily Grace over for lunch. You seemed to hit it off well with her the last time you visited. But for now, do you want me to order you some breakfast? You can eat while I get dressed…" Julia asked.

Ruby took a breath in an effort to slow herself down, "That all sounds great," she agreed.

Thursday afternoon (12:30 P.M.)

Julia and Ruby had been talking all morning. They had gone out to buy some cheese and crackers and wine. They would order room service for lunch after Emily arrived.

Pouring herself a glass of wine, Ruby said, "Jules, I have to say you seem happier than I have ever seen you. I swear you seem to be more alive, and more patient too."

"I agree Ruby, I feel a change. I never imagined William and I could be so happy. It's really quite wonderful," Julia said, attempting, but failing, to keep the large smile off of her face.

There was a knock at the door and they greeted Emily. After they had ordered their lunches and supplied each other with wine, snacks, and seats, Ruby shared about some of her most recent adventures. Emily expressed her amazement at Ruby's independence and worldliness. The conversation shifted to the efforts Julia and Emily were making with regards to women's suffrage.

Not knowing that there had been some tension between Julia and Emily about the impact of Julia's marriage on some of her suffrage activities, Ruby asked how William felt about Julia's involvement. Julia sang his praises, explaining that he tended to get more excited about her actions than she herself did. However, she had to admit that he clearly worried about her being jailed.

Their lunch arrived and Emily shared with the two sisters about her relationship with Lillian as they began eating. Ruby was not surprised but found herself drawn to Emily's free spirit. Julia and Emily had not ever discussed Emily's relationship in much detail and Julia pushed herself to get over her discomfort. She was happy to see that Ruby and Emily got along so well, and she was truly enjoying the opening of hearts that the three of them were engaged in.

Around the time they began tea and desert, Ruby couldn't hold herself back anymore and asked about Julia and William's relationship. She leaned into Julia, motioning for Emily to join her, and she said, "So Jules, you really must tell about your married life."

Emily looked at Ruby and added, "She told me that their honeymoon continues and that they really are, and I quote, "quite enjoying themselves."

"Well I'm not surprised to hear that based on how William looked this morning, and Julia, (they both turned to look at her) you can't keep the smile off of your face!" Ruby exclaimed.

Julia turned a little red and struggled with her decisions about disclosure. She felt completely comfortable revealing all to her sister, and had come to greatly trust Emily as well, however much of what she wanted to share would involve William, and he is a very private person, further Emily worked with him. "I must say, I am so tempted to tell all, but I feel an obligation to be more discreet because of William," Julia said, "I hope you understand."

Ruby shook her head, "Oh no you don't! You have to tell us what it's like being married, and to such an interesting man as William Murdoch."

Emily pushed, "Julia, please. You don't have to go into detail, and maybe you can make sure to only tell us how it is for you, not revealing so much about him in the process?"

Ruby interjected, "No way! I want details… Jules, we can be discreet. We won't tell anybody else and we'll be careful not to act like we know anything around William."

"Well, William does know I tend to share intimate things with each of you, so he probably wouldn't be too surprised or feel too betrayed, but you have to promise me that you won't make him feel uncomfortable, and Emily, I'm trusting you to keep everything I say to yourself," Julia said as her voice took on the tone of a warning.

Julia took her teacup with her and moved to the couch. The others followed suit. "So what do you want to know?" Julia asked.

Ruby and Emily looked at each other with excited looks – this was going to be good!

Ruby led off, "About the sex, of course."

Julia sighed and dropped her face to keep her expression from them, but her attempt at hiding her smile was clearly failing and she herself knew it. "O.K., I think you both can tell that it is great!" she said, lifting her head to show her joy, "We make love often and it is wonderful."

Ruby asked, "Do you think William was an experienced lover before you got married?"

Julia pulled back, "Ruby, I will not disclose such things. All I will say is that, however he managed it, his lovemaking has managed to bring us both abundant pleasure, and pretty much right from the start. Our honeymoon was much better than I had ever imagined it would be. And, believe it or not, our attraction and desire for each other has only grown stronger over time."

Emily asked, "Do you think you'll adopt children soon? I mean I know you aren't expecting to be able to have your own. I think Detective Murdoch would make a magnificent father, don't you?"

Ruby reached over to place her hand on Julia's and said, "And you'll make a wonderful mother too, Jules."

"We haven't decided when, but we will I'm sure. It's just that we are both enjoying each other so much right now, and I'm a little worried about what will happen to my career. I think William will leave the timing up to me – he knows my career means so much to me," Julia said, with a touch of sadness drifting into her tone.

Emily sat up straighter and said, "He really does seem to be such a modern and caring husband. I only hope I can find someone to share my life with that I fit with as well as you fit with him."

"As do I," Julia said.

It was quiet for a moment before Emily asked, "You know, you told me a while ago that there was an attraction right away when you met, but that love grew over time as you worked together. Was there a particular moment when you actually felt yourself fall in love with him?"

Julia got up and put her teacup with the other dishes and lifted the wine bottle, "This is a pretty long story – Are you sure you want me to tell it, and if so, I bet you'll want to re-fill your wine glasses."

Once all the glasses were filled, Julia organized her thoughts and then told her story:

Before she met William, she had been told that he was very intense and brilliant and would be demanding of her as a pathologist. The workers in the morgue called him, "the bicycle detective," and George had told her that his fiancée had recently died of consumption, so to be patient with him as much as possible. When she saw him for the first time she was surprised he was as young as he was, having built up such a strong reputation as an expert detective in such a short time. She was struck by her reaction to him – She felt like a schoolgirl with a crush. She had butterflies in her stomach as she shook his hand and had to work to speak without a quiver in her voice. She wanted to impress him, but spent half of her attention on telling herself not to stare at him. She had never seen such beautiful eyes in her life, and she found herself reasoning that his fit body was likely due to all the cycling.

But, William was so hard to read and she couldn't decide if he felt the same way about her or not. Their conversations were invigorating, stimulating, and she felt right away that he respected and valued her input. She loved working with him and attempted to hide her feelings from him until she could be more sure that her feelings were reciprocated, fearing the loss of the wonderful working relationship they shared if she spoke up about her romantic interests in him.

The first time she ever had any clear-cut evidence that William felt a similar attraction for her was when he had rigged himself up to a device he had invented that would indicate whether or not someone was lying. Once again, Julia failed to conceal her glee when she described the scene for them, "He was demonstrating how it worked to the whole stationhouse, and when I walked in he immediately started squirming and wiggling, trying to get out of the device and put off the demonstration. His big, dark eyes moved from my face to the blue liquid in the coiled tube which would rise if his heart rate and pressure increased. The liquid was slowly creeping up and he looked very worried." She remembered that it was Higgins who called out, "Bugger that, I have a better (question) … Is the detective in love?" Julia was elated when she saw the liquid shoot up – the only problem was that she couldn't be one-hundred-percent sure that it was her that he was thinking of when his body reacted so strongly to the question.

Finally he asked her to a ball, and, as fate would have it, they each decided to take dancing lessons before the event – and they ended up at the same studio at the same time and were paired together. She remembers being more tense about the situation than happy about it, but she also thought about their dancing together constantly. She speculated, "I had almost fallen in love with him. It was like I was at the precipice of the cliff, but I wouldn't let myself go over."

Julia continued, "Around then, we started working on a gruesome case. Three women had been gutted in much the same fashion as were the victims of Jack the Ripper. A detective from England, Detective Scanlon, had shown up claiming to know that the murderer was a man named Orville and that Orville would continue until he had killed eight women. This detective became very agitated when I tried to inform him and William about my findings after conducting a post-mortem. He was rude and William stood up to him and put him in his place, demanding that he apologize to me."

Ruby lifted a finger in the air, "That's when it happened. That's when you fell for him, when he protected you?!"

"No, not yet Ruby. It turns out that William's actions weren't quite as chivalrous as they seemed because Detective Scanlon had also been rude to many of the constables and William was dealing with him as he needed to," Julia said and then got up to top off everybody's wine. "This story has still got a lot to go. Do you want me to continue?" she asked.

Emily replied emphatically, "Don't you dare stop, Julia. Now we have to know."

Returning to her seat, Julia continued her story. She told them that they had charged a suspect with the crime and that Detective Scanlon stopped by the morgue to ask her out to dinner, using his desire to make it up to her for being rude earlier as an excuse. She had declined. She stayed late that night to finish up her report on the last victim. A serious tone overtook Julia, "It was dark. I had my music playing as I sat at my desk finishing the report. Suddenly I heard the floorboards creak to my left and when I turned there was Detective Scanlon, silent, staring. The look of him startled me and I was up out of my seat before I had time to think. I tried to cover up my fear by asking him if I could help him. Then he opened up his switch-blade. I heard the noise and saw the shimmer of the metal blade in his right hand. I figured out at that instant that he was Orville, not Detective Scanlon, and that he intended to gut me as he had his other victims. I ran into the morgue theatre and dodged back and forth from the opposite side of the shelf as Orville. I spotted a pair of scissors I had left out and picked them up. I ran. He tackled me to the ground. I tried to stay down on the ground – I knew from the autopsies that the way he struck required us to be standing with him behind me holding my shoulders. He grabbed my arm and as he pulled me up I surged the scissors into him. He didn't die right away. I turned out all the lights and hid in a corner. William, the Inspector and George burst in a few seconds later. William helped me up and I watched as Orville thanked me for finally putting an end to his ordeal and he died."

Julia sighed, showing her relief, and then went back to the story. William had taken her home. She had asked him to stay the night. He stayed on her couch. In the middle of the night she awoke screaming in the midst of a nightmare -reliving the trauma. She heard William from the other room – he asked if she wanted him to come to her. She said yes. Julia paused and looked away, shaking her head, "I will never ever forget how he looked when he came in. I guess he didn't have any pajamas to sleep in and so had been sleeping in his underwear. He had wrapped the sheet around himself. I could see one of his bare shoulders and the bottoms of his legs sticking out of the sheet. He looked like he was wearing a Greek toga. I ended up laughing, with him joining in. I called him, "my Greek God." He came to sit on the bed next to me and suggested I tell him the whole story thinking that doing so may take some of the power out of the memories."

"Now you fell in love with him, right?" Emily asked.

"You might think so, but no, not yet," Julia answered and continued, "William went back to the couch. I fell back asleep and a few hours later woke up screaming again. Dressed as the Greek God, William was sitting on the bed next to me quite quickly. I was terrified because in the dream this time the scissors weren't there. I panicked. I asked William, "What would I have done if I hadn't left those scissors out. I'd have been gutted. I'd be dead." William held my shoulders and caught my eye. He told me that he knew I was very smart, and athletic, and brave, and that I would have thought of something else – maybe hitting Orville over the head or pushing the shelf over on him. Somehow he convinced me that I would have found a way to survive. I asked him to stay with me, and to just keep talking until he knew I was asleep before he left. I only remember the beginning of the story he told... He made up a story about a long, long time ago when there was a beautiful maiden from the royal court who possessed such reasoning talents that she was asked to help plan the military's actions. There was also a lowly but highly skilled army scout who would never normally have even met the maiden because of his poverty, but who had the occasion to do so when informing the court of the details of what he had found. I wanted to stay awake because I knew that I was the maiden and William was the scout, and I wanted to know what William would imagine became of them, but I fell asleep, never to hear the rest of his story."

Julia adjusted her position on the couch, pulling her legs up onto the couch and laying them off to her side, "The next morning I prepared some breakfast for us and I voiced my worry over having to perform the post-mortem on Orville. I asked William if he thought the Inspector would expect me to do so knowing that Orville had attacked me and that I had killed him. William believed I would be expected to perform the post-mortem – after all, there were three witnesses to Orville's confession of the attack and my stabbing him in self-defense. He also said that if I tried to get out of it, the Inspector would say it was because I was a woman and that it would support his belief that women are not as capable as men. I went to the morgue and started the post-mortem on Orville. I gathered trace evidence from his clothing, his nails, but I had failed twice when it came to cutting him open. Around mid-morning, William showed up. He said the Inspector had given him permission to observe the post-mortem. William helped me so much that day. He sensed my inability to make the first cut. He asked me what I would say to a student who was feeling reluctant when working on their first cadaver. I told him I would say to think of the body as a thing, like a mattress. It worked and I got through it. William stood by my side the whole time. He asked insightful questions and truly seemed to learn from the experience."

Julia's tone changed and it seemed that they might be getting close to the moment, "When it came time to write the report, he pulled a chair up to sit on my right and we shared thoughts as I worked at my desk. I was writing about Orville's liver when I heard a sound coming from my left side. I froze with panic – the sound having triggered my memory of Orville creaking the floorboards before his attack. William leaned in closer to me and calmly said in my right ear, "That was the freezer unit turning on. You're safe." My mind settled, but I was still stunned. William reached over and placed his fingers where my pen rested on the paper and asked, "What was it that your findings about Orville's liver indicated?" My thoughts began to flow again and I started to write that the oversized liver indicated some form of drug abuse. That's when it happened… I heard my own voice in my mind say, "Trust," and I knew that I trusted this man – _ **I let myself fall.**_ I stopped writing and began to thank him. I turned to look at him and said, "William Murdoch, I have never known anyone like you. You notice things no one else sees, and you're able to put yourself in my shoes, and you know what to do to help me get back on track. You enthusiastically share in my interests and needs, and you skillfully care for me. You're just …," I stopped myself there because I was about to reveal too much, but he pushed me – he asked, "I'm just …what?" I looked away, up at the sky and shook my head, feeling both vulnerable and trusting, and I finished, "Perfect. I was going to say you're just perfect." I'm sure William was about to ask me if I meant that he was a perfect match for me but he didn't get to finish his question. George came in and said the Inspector had started ranting about Murdoch being away all day, and William had to go.

Later that night I went to the dance lesson. I so wanted to see him. William said he didn't expect to see me after the stress of the day. I told him I came because I wanted to be held. He stepped in closer to me and held me tighter than the instructor would normally allow. I felt like all my fears and worries completely melted away as I rested my cheek against his ear and breathed in his smell. I was no longer alone. I felt like I was home. Soon after that we started courting.

Thursday (3:30 P.M.):

Room service came to pick up the lunch cart and the ladies took a break. Emily considered leaving, but she wondered if Julia would tell one more story. "Has William ever told you when he fell in love with you?" she asked.

Emily and Ruby watched Julia's face as her now familiar smile tried to burst free of her control. Ruby sat back down, pulling Emily with her and said, "Oh do tell it Jules."

Julia shook her head and gave herself a little laugh, "William says he started falling in love with me before he even met me. He was impressed that a woman of our time would be able to become a doctor and he figured I had to be incredibly bright and determined to have done so. He says that once he saw how beautiful I was, and our eyes met, he felt that I was the one for him. Now, mind you, he had been engaged to marry Liza, and he saw himself as dedicated and loyal to her even after she had passed, but he acknowledges that his thoughts about me plagued his conscience from the very start. William felt himself falling more and more in love with me every day, but he did not think I would reciprocate his feelings, probably because I was from the elite – a Tory, and he also didn't want to jeopardize our valuable friendship by risking telling me of his romantic feelings for me. He claims he told me that he loved me, that he would always love me, when he told me the "story" the night he stayed to comfort me after Orville's attack. Who knows, maybe I heard him on some level – after all it was the very next day that I decided I could trust him and I let myself step off of the precipice and fall in love with him.

Ruby sat up straighter, paused, and then asked, "So Jules, has the class difference created any problems?"

Julia indicated that this might also take a while to explain with a sigh, "Fortunately it is truly William's nature to believe that women are just as capable as men, and though he struggles with the image of being a man who does not provide much of what he and his wife enjoy, he is also quite confident in himself. Over time he has become more comfortable spending _our_ money, and his instinctive respect with servants warms my heart – he tends to be very popular with them. However, early on in our relationship his assumptions about my desire to marry someone such as him, from a poor background and earning merely a detective's salary, led to some very big problems. He says he felt it was time to ask me to marry him even before I told him I was moving to Buffalo, but he was saving up money to buy an acceptable ring. The morning I left for Buffalo, as you know Ruby, he bought the ring and rushed to the train station to propose, but he was too late. He wrote the proposal in a telegram, but he says he decided not to send it because he figured I would say no. He thought I would be better off with a man of the same class as myself…"

"Oh no," declared Ruby, "Someone like Darcy?"

Julia's sadness was undeniable. With tears welling up in her eyes she shook her head yes, "Oh Ruby, it's why he wouldn't tell me he loved me and ask me not to marry Darcy – because he believed I was truly happier with Darcy than I could be with him. He got the note I left for him telling him I would choose him over Darcy when it was too late to stop the wedding."

Emily leaned forward and said, "It's so tragic, and romantic, and sad – To think that he loved you so much to let you go to be happy with someone else, only to find out that you weren't going to be happy without him. And yet he never even courted someone else."

Ruby interjected, "Was he planning to live out his life alone, never taking a lover, because the only one for him was you and you were gone?"

"That's just the thing, I wasn't really "gone," Julia said, "I was still working as his pathologist. What William accepted was to love me from afar. He settled for having our friendship and our working relationship. It's just that I couldn't take it – seeing him every day. My heart was so broken and torn. You know I had left him so he could be happy with another woman who could give him children, not because I didn't love him. And so often when I saw him I knew I wanted him. After I married Darcy and William came back from the Yukon, I found myself longing for William terribly. I had fantasies about the two of us grabbing each other and making love – It got so bad that I started having dreams like this and would call out William's name while sleeping right next to Darcy. It made Darcy furious, eventually leading to him to sleeping in a separate room. I honestly feel that William was in the worst pain when I brought you in Emily, and then left my job – again – at the morgue. But I had to leave, I couldn't take it. At that point William had completely lost me. And still, he never courted another." Julia was outright crying now.

Ruby and Emily looked at each other, trying to find a way to comfort Julia. Ruby put her hand over Julia's and said, "But he has you now – and you both are very happy."

Julia wiped her eyes and replied, "Yes, yes. Of course that's true. Thank you Ruby."

A devilish look overtook Ruby and she asked, "Jules, did you and William make love last night? I mean, when you say "often," what do you mean?"

Ruby's plan worked and that uncontrollable smile crept back onto Julia's face. Julia was having an internal fight with herself. This was truly personal, and it so clearly included William, "I'm trying to decide if it would betray William if I told you such details," she shook her head from side to side.

Emily raised an argument, "But these are details about your life too, and you should be able to discuss your life with your sister and your closest friend, don't you think?"

"O.K., you've convinced me," Julia said as she sat up straighter and tried to pull the corners of her mouth down to minimize her grin, "Well actually, we made love last night _and this morning_. And I must say, if there is a habit to our lovemaking, twice a day is more common than not."

Emily raised her nearly empty glass and the others joined her, "Well, I'll surely toast to that!" she said.

Thursday (5:30 P.M.)

As the glasses clinked, they heard the key turn in the door, and they shared a look of surprise and the discomfort of having to hide secrets. William walked around the corner, having hung up his coat and hat, and carrying a dozen roses. "Good evening ladies. And Dr. Grace – it was a lunch was it not? Well, I'll have to adjust these roses – Julia these are for you, (he handed Julia six roses – yellow, white, and pink, and he divided six red roses between Ruby and Emily), and these for you Ruby, and these for you Emily. I made reservations for dinner, but I'm sure we can add Emily on."

Julia had gotten up to greet him, and with a small curtsey in response to receiving her roses, she gave him a light kiss. "What time?" she asked.

William leaned in to take another kiss and said, "Reservations are for 6:30 – which leaves us enough time for the investigation." He then turned a dining room chair around to face the parlor chairs and couch and sat down. He motioned for Julia to take a seat on the couch.

"Investigation?" Julia asked.

Darning a playful smile, William answered, "It seems that charges have been laid of "Kissing and Telling."

Looks of worry filled the room. Emily said, "Oh my."

Ruby calmly said, "William, whatever do you mean?"

William continued, dropping his eyes to his hands for a moment and playing with his wedding ring, "There is evidence that the suspect, one Dr. Julia Ogden, sometimes affectionately referred to as Mrs. Murdoch, has divulged secrets about her marital relationship."

"What evidence?" Julia demanded.

William walked to the table and lifted two wine bottles, "Well, there has been quite a bit of drinking. And a "lunch" that seems to have been going on for over four hours. And it is important that you do not forget that I too had a sister, and I know that women tend to mull over the details of relationships, particularly romantic ones, for hours with their intimate friends, much as I would engage with the clues in a murder investigation. Further, I have not even conducted interviews of the witnesses yet, and I'm sure I will gather even more evidence for them."

"Witnesses?!" Julia squeaked, "William you wouldn't!"

William adjusted his chair to better face Emily and Ruby and began his interview, "You both have been here talking with the suspect for over four hours, have you not?"

Seeming to enjoy the game, Ruby said, "Yes," while Emily shook her head.

"At any point, did the conversation come to discuss the sexual relations between Mrs. Murdoch, as we will refer to her during this investigation, and her husband?"

"Why yes it did," Ruby responded, while Emily just shook her head.

William turned to look at Julia, raising one eyebrow. Julia held eye contact with him and swallowed. She knew he had completely taken control of the situation, and that she did not stand a chance – particularly because she knew Ruby, and she knew William knew her too.

"And tell me, was frequency discussed, as well as the husband's … skills?"

Smirks filled the room as all present knew the answer, and the answers were such that they implied the existence of a high quality love-life for the couple.

"Well yes, detective," said Ruby, while Emily shook her head.

"And what frequency was reported?" William asked Emily.

Emily shifted her weight and glanced at Julia.

"Dr. Grace…," William pushed.

Emily glanced at William, but quickly looked away, "It was said that…" After a pause Emily sat up in her chair, opened her eyes wide, and continued through an excited grin, "Twice _a DAY_ was not uncommon!"

"Hmm. And Miss Ogden, what was said of the husband's … skills?" William queried as he stood from his chair and paced the room.

Julia felt her stomach flip over. She sat with her mouth wide open in shock.

All eyes turned to Ruby. Ruby's eyes darted between Julia to William, "It was said that his lovemaking skills were very good, bringing both of them much pleasure right from their honeymoon till today – even this morning in fact."

With that last remark it was hard to say whether Julia or William turned more red.

William cleared his throat and stopped in front of Emily. "Dr. Grace, what else besides lovemaking was discussed?" he asked.

Emily took a moment to remember and said, "Um, it was asked when you each fell in love with each other."

William began pacing again, "That's very interesting. When did Mrs. Murdoch say she fell in love with her husband?"

Emily looked at Julia and then Ruby, "When you, I mean her husband, stayed by her side to help her write a post-mortem report on Orville after he had attacked her and she had stabbed him. Her husband's actions and unique qualities rendered her able to feel complete trust in him. She said she had been hanging on, not letting herself fall in love with him, but when he cared for her so warmly and effectively, she let go and let herself fall. Quite touching really, don't you think?"

William wrinkled up the right side of his face and said, "Quite." He lifted his big, chocolate eyes up to meet Julia's causing her heart to stop and she gasped. To say they shared the look of love would not be strong enough. He broke the gaze with her and turned back to the witnesses, "And what of her husband's path? When did he fall in love with her?"

Ruby took this one, "He was said to have been expecting to meet an amazing woman before their eyes ever met. It seems that for him it was love at first sight – at least on some level. But the man is very complicated and it took quite a while for him to accept his fate."

Emily leaned in to the conversation and whispered, "He is said to have told his wife of his feelings, but disguised in a fairytale told to her as she fell asleep."

"Oh," William said shaking his head yes. William took a deep breath and indicated that the interview was over. He walked over to Julia and offered her his hand to help her stand. He then took a step back and placed his hands behind his back, "Mrs. Murdoch, I am charging you with Kissing and Telling. The evidence in the case points strongly against you. A confession would go a long way in minimizing your sentence."

"My sentence?" Julia asked with a raised eyebrow and a threatening tone in her voice.

"Yes. Most of the details will be worked out behind closed doors, but there must be consequences when one commits such a crime," William said as he bowed slightly to her, catching her off guard with a twinkle in his eye.

Julia stepped closer to him and as she reached up to put her arms around his neck she said, "Then I plead guilty and agree to weather the consequences, come what may." She kissed him with more passion than he would expect considering they were not alone.

William softly ended their kiss and turned to face Emily and Ruby. "Now, in the interest of transparency, I have to say that it takes two to tango, and Mrs. Murdoch has quite a few… "skills" of her own," he said with the now familiar smile on his face. He took a deep breath and pulled out his watch, "I guess we'd best be going if we're going to make our reservations."

As they put on their coats Emily asked, "Do you think you could tell us the fairytale?"

William thought for a moment and said, looking at his wife, "I'll tell it to Julia and if she decides to share it with you, that will be up to her." Unable to stop himself, he leaned in and placed another kiss on Julia's lips and then whispered in her ear, "Let's make this a quick dinner - I think your upcoming sentence is one you will enjoy serving."

The Murdochs had both given up trying to hide their smiles.


End file.
